We didn't waste much time. Once the coffee kicked in (courtesy of Lyria, who somehow brewed it with leftover lightning magic), we packed up camp and started walking.
The goal was clear: Find Mortax. Find answers. Find the Prince, if he hadn't gotten himself turned into a throw pillow or bartered away for shiny rocks.
> "Do we even know where we are?" Grubnuk asked, stretching his arms and cracking something that definitely wasn't a knuckle.
> "Not exactly," I admitted. "But if we follow the giant ominous spire of smoke shaped like a dragon flipping us off, I'm guessing that's Mortax."
Arc floated beside me, his spiritual form flickering.
> "I don't like the magic here," he murmured. "It's… sticky."
> "Everything here is sticky," Kevin added, wiping sap off his feathers. "The trees have opinions and I hate it."
The woods around us groaned like an audience tired of our antics. Branches moved subtly. The wind carried old jokes and future regrets.
It took hours to hike across this part of the crater—hours filled with spontaneous gravity changes, surprise riddles from moss, and one accidental duel with a sentient pinecone (we don't talk about that).
When we finally crested the ridge and saw Mortax's valley again, we all let out a collective breath.
He was still there. Huge. Scaled. Coated in glamor and disdain. Reading a scroll the size of a boat.
> "You're late," he rumbled without looking up.
> "We fell into a soul-eating pit of forgotten trauma and fought a version of myself that doesn't believe in jokes," I said.
> "So… Tuesday," Mortax replied.
Greg bowed with exaggerated flair.
> "Oh Great and Grumpy, we seek the Prince. He's gone."
Mortax finally looked up. His eyes narrowed.
> "Then you are too late."
> "What do you mean?" Lyria asked.
> "I felt it. A power shift. Someone pulled him through the seams of the story. The magic here... it's not just twisted. It's misused."
Arc tensed.
> "There's something writing over the story."
Mortax nodded grimly.
> "The hand behind the curtain. The whisper behind the prophecy. The one who sent you all here in the first place… is starting to edit."
We all looked at each other. Even Kevin. Especially Kevin.
> "So what do we do now?" I asked.
Mortax's eyes glowed faintly.
> "Now?" he said. "Now… you go find the Editor."
And with that, the mountain beneath us began to shift. Stairs formed. A gate emerged from the stone. And beyond it—a path no one remembered creating.
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End of Chapter 27 (Return to the dragon. Revelation found. The real author makes a move.)